The Icebreaker From Hell

This blog post was originally posted on May 2, 2017.

Trust.

I once participated in the icebreaker from hell.

We all had to break off into pairs and one person had to be blindfolded. As my luck had it, the Chosen Blindfolded Beauty Queen happened to be me. So I reluctantly allowed myself to be blindfolded and I held onto my partner’s arm for dear life; I mean I had a death grip on her arm. I’m pretty sure my fingerprints are still on her arm to this day.

Now the instructions for this exercise, was that I had to trust my partner to take me through an obstacle course just by following their lead. Well, in my mind, the obstacle course looked something like the first day of training camp in the military.

As I said, the icebreaker from hell.

There was no way I could allow this person to lead me through this and survive. There was just NO way.

I had already prepared myself to miss a step, tumble down the stairs and break an ankle…maybe even a collarbone because I heard breaking your collarbone hurts pretty bad. I was anticipating the absolute worst!

With every instruction my partner gave me, I followed about 10% of her directives. If she said, “Take a step.” I wiggled my big toe. If she said, “Turn around.” I stayed perfectly still because I figured if I don’t move much, nothing bad can happen to me.

In retrospect, this story is hilarious but it reminds me of how many of us are standing perfectly still in the same spot because we’re afraid that if we move if we take a chance, something bad will happen. And your something bad may not be like what I envisioned, falling down the stairs and having to wear a full-body cast for a few months. Maybe your “something bad” is rejection or failure. Maybe you feel that if you take that step, what if you can’t control what happens next?

But trusting that inner voice inside you that says “You can do this! That’s a great idea! This could work!” takes you giving away your need to control and allowing yourself to go through the process; the process it takes to achieve that goal and dream that’s inside of you. Success is an obstacle course. Some parts you can walk through, but some parts you have to get down low on the ground and squeeze through it. You’ll never get through it by wiggling your toe or standing still. The obstacle course to success is different for everyone but you have to trust that by going through your process, you’ll get through successfully to the end.

With Love,

Christine A.